The present invention relates to a dispensing apparatus and, more particularly, to an improved vendor for permitting vending of a single newspaper or the like per vend cycle.
This invention is an improvement of the newspaper vending apparatus described in Ostermann U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 24,546, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,335.
It is well known to provide newspaper vending machines which permit access to a stack of newspapers upon feeding coins of sufficient value to a coin operated mechanism. Once access is gained, the purchaser may withdraw a newspaper but one must rely only upon the honor and integrity of the purchaser as assurance that no more than a single copy will be taken. Nothing physically prevents a purchaser from withdrawing extra copies of newspapers for which the purchaser has not paid and to which he is not entitled.
To overcome this difficulty, there has theretofore been known a first general type of prior art newspaper vendor which permits withdrawal of a single newspaper. Various mechanisms for this purpose have been suggested, including movement, in response to vending of a first newspaper, of a blocking member into the path of subsequent newspapers for preventing withdrawal until a subsequent vending operation is made possible by insertion of the proper coin in a control mechanism.
A second general type of prior art utilizes a different principle for permitting only a single newspaper to be delivered for each operation of a coin mechanism. In vendors of this type, some sort of paper delivery mechanism is utilized to retrieve a single newspaper copy, e.g., from a stack of newspapers, and to dispense this copy to the customer.
For example, a slide may be used which has a plurality of pointed members which contact the bottom newspaper whereby only it is pulled from the stack upon forward movement of the slide, when released by the coin mechanism. One difficulty inherent in this approach is that the stack is limited in size since the weight of too many newspapers above the lowermost copy which is to be vended may cause binding between copies with consequent tearing or ripping of newspapers during vending, or may create other difficulties in operation.
As will be recognized, newspapers conventionally are folded along the side and in the middle which provide increased thicknesses of the individual newspapers at the side and middle fold. Therefore, when stacked, these nonuniform thicknesses are multipled in effect so that the newspaper stack is, in effect, skewed whereby the uppermost newspaper on the stack is slanted or at a considerable angle to the surface on which the stack is supported.
Although the first type of dispensing apparatus can hold a relatively large stack of newspapers from which the uppermost copy is to be vended, a serious difficulty arises by virtue of this skewing of the stack. This skewing can cause the uppermost newspaper not to be properly aligned for being vended. Therefore, this type of apparatus may jam or fail to properly operate or to present the newspaper in a position in which it can successfully be vended. Or, if it permits the newspaper to be vended, it may cause tearing of the newspaper during vending.
The vendor described in said Ostermann U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 24,546 is of the type providing vending of a single newspaper per vend cycle. To permit reliable vending operations regardless of various possible thicknesses of the newspaper, an advantageous mechanism is disclosed therein for adjusting and preselecting the dimensions of the vend channel. However, upon testing under conditions representative of normal usage, it has been found that such vend channel adjustment mechanism requires greater time to adjust than is desired. This vendor also has a mechanism for causing newspapers to be presented in alignment with the vend throat having elements which must be moved out of the way for loading of a fresh stack of newspapers into the vendor. This requires a separate step in the reloading of the vendor which it is desired to obviate to save time and provide greater convenience.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is the provision of an improved vendor for permitting vending of a single newspaper or other publication, per vend cycle.
A further object of the invention is the provision of such a vendor which provides trouble-free single copy vending of newspapers or other publications in response to proper insertion of coins regardless of possible variations in the thickness of the paper or publication, readily handling a wide variation of thicknesses of such newspapers or publications by making possible rapid adjustment accommodative of various thicknesses such as typical of different newspaper editions having vastly different numbers of pages from day to day.
A further object of the invention is the provision of such a vendor which provides improved reliability for consistent, trouble-free vending of newspapers or other publications without causing damage, tearing, ripping or perforation thereof during vending.
Another object of the invention is the provision of such a vendor which includes an improved vend control mechanism which is reliable in operation, prevents multiple vending during each vend cycle, cannot be jackpotted, is not easily defeated or rendered inoperable, is simple and reliable in operation, and is conductive to production line manufacture.
Yet another object of the invention is the provision of such a vendor which not only can contain a large supply of newspapers or similar publications, but also entirely encloses such large supply in the form of a stack to entirely keep elements such as rain, snow, sleet, or ice from damaging publications within the vendor.
A further object of the invention is the provision of such a vendor which displays newspapers to be vended in an easily viewed, unobstructed and attractive manner, allowing the customer to view prior to vending the copy of the paper which will be vended.
A further object of the invention is the provision of such a vendor which includes an improved coin handling mechanism for controlling vend operations, a related object being the provision of a simple, reliable and economical coin handling mechanism which allows convenient, rapid selection between "daily" and "Sunday" vend prices.
Still further objects of the invention are the provision of mechanisms for automatically increasing vend throat vertical spacing for causing same to be slightly greater than newspaper thickness, and for preventing interference with a newspaper being vended by delaying operation of a blocking arrangement which precludes a further paper from being vended during the same vend cycle.
Other objects will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinbelow.